Latest News...

Feb 19, 2019: Story One: Becoming a Nonprofit: If Jesus can provide a tax payment in a fish's mouth,

then surely...
Today's anecdote is a testament to God's faithfulness from long long ago in the ancient history of LightSys. That is, back in the ancient days of May 2000. You probably know that LightSys is a "tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit". But, what does all of that gobbledygook mean? To you it means that your gifts are tax-deductible and provides you the assurance that we're not essentially a for-profit corporation in disguise... but to us it meant a lot of work and a real faith-building endeavor!
God Provides Finances
Just for some context, LightSys has always sought to be a financially efficient organization, and our early days were no exception (in fact, those days were almost too much of a non-exception!). We had a total of $1,400 in donations during our first year (1999), setting the stage for being in a position to need a miracle.
May 31st of 2000 was for all practical purposes our deadline for filing for 501(c)(3) status. Unfortunately, by May of 2000 we only had $433.50 in our bank account -- not enough for the $500 filing fee. Not only so, but we lacked the knowledge to fill out the form (and we definitely lacked the finances to pay someone else to do it!). The form was a real bear, too, at 10 pages long, not to mention requiring dozens of pages of exhibits and attachments. We were praying for the finances and expertise, as well as for a fair and understanding person at the IRS to review our case (we had heard horror stories of poorly handled cases).
Then, in mid-May, we received a $100 check from a generous donor - we finally had the funds (with a whole $33.50 to spare)! Excitedly we continued to research the IRS form and continued to pray for the knowledge and confidence to fill it out.
God Provides Knowledge
About five days prior to the May 31st deadline, we received a surprise email from a guy from Texas who had just visited our website, saw a note that we were in the process of obtaining 501(c)(3) status, and wanted to send us a copy of his (computer related) ministry's 501(c)(3) application, if it would help us file ours (i.e., so we could use his successful application as a model for ours)! He even mailed it overnight to us and wouldn't let us pay him for the shipping! Encouraged, we got our application package (all 50 pages of it) in the mail to the IRS, on time.
More Divine Provision
But this was not to be the only set of miracles related to becoming a nonprofit. In mid-August of 2000, the IRS had a concern about one aspect of our application, and our case reviewer brought up the issue with us. After kindly explaining the issue and the recent IRS ruling applying to it, she gave us several options we could pursue in order to resolve the issue and obtain our exempt status. The IRS needed our answer within a few days, and our "answer" legally required that LightSys co-founders Greg Beeley and Tim Young hold an official business meeting.
Unfortunately, while Greg was discussing this with the IRS, Tim was meandering around among random mission groups between San Francisco and Seattle, and he did not plan to "surface" for another week. A week would be too long!
Not knowing where else to turn to locate this exceedingly itinerant Tim Young, Greg called Tim's parents. In order to appreciate how much of a long shot this was, you need to understand that members of the Young family rarely kept each other up-to-date regarding such detailed goings-on. Predictably, Tim's father did not know where Tim was. However, he did happen to know someone who did! While meandering through Oregon, Tim had providentially come across an old friend of his father; that friend had then promptly called Tim's father in Arizona to catch up.
Greg then called Tim's dad's friend, who also did not know where Tim was, but he knew someone who did. After yet a third phone call, Tim and Greg were finally in touch, had completed their required business meeting, and Greg faxed the appropriate documents to the IRS. Less than a week later, in late August of 2000, we received our official "tax exempt" recognition from the IRS, allowing us to confidently issue "tax deductible" gift receipts! Not only so, but the IRS issued us a firmer decision than we had expected, meaning we did not have to do as much work to justify our 501(c)(3) status in the years to come.

Feb 19, 2019: Stories of God's Faithfulness: A collection of short stories of God's faithfulness to His children serving in missions.
This blog is dedicated to God's glory and to your encouragement.

We deeply desire that you would be set free to place your full trust in God, not primarily because of our stories, but because you choose to trust Him. But, our hope is that these stories will help you envision walking in a place where your faith can't be shaken by circumstances.
Many years ago, pastor Jimmy Seibert of Antioch Community Church said, "Many of us want to see God do a miracle in our lives, but we don't want to be in a position to need one." So, God has to force us into those situations, for His glory and for our joy. Count it all joy, my friends!

Today is Giving Tuesday, and if the Lord is leading you to support the ministry of LightSys financially, here are a few opportunities to bless our team: 1) If you regularly or annually give to LightSys to support a specific missionary or missionary family, making a donation to the support fund for that missionary is a wonderful way to help, and is very much needed. Visit [link] and search for the missionary's support fund. 2) When our team and volunteers visit universities to talk to students and raise awareness of the need for skilled technology professionals in missions, there are some costs involved - for display and printed materials, for shipping, for travel, and more. You can assist with these costs via: [link] 3) Help with our needs for technology equipment, including software, computers, and other hardware! [link] 4) Not sure where to give, but you want to help the ministry of LightSys? Give to LightSys 'where most needed': [link]

Missions.Computer Technology.Worshiping God.

LightSys™ is a fellowship of believers serving and praying together for spiritual fruitfulness and the fulfillment of Jesus' Great Commission. We partner in the evangelization of the world by providing IT consulting, training, software development, and missions mobilization, to equip missions and missionaries and provide the knowledge and contacts needed to support their technology. We desire to see missionaries serving with greater effectiveness, keeping their mind on their task, not their computers, thus redeeming technology -- for God's Kingdom.

Our Partnership in Missions.

Our services are free of charge (see How Can We Serve You? for more details as to how this works). If your Christian mission or ministry has computer technology issues and would like some help, just contact us via our contact form. Let us know what kinds of needs you have. We'll get back to you to discuss how we can help.